The Guru’s Local/National Roundup: Villanova Wins 9th Straight While Penn Cruises at FDU Tourney Where Binghamton Upsets Host Knights; No. 6 Michigan Survives in 2 OTs at Oregon

 By Mel Greenberg

Villanova and Penn produced dominate victories Monday among the four locals in action, the Wildcats (11-2, 4-0) still perfect in the Big East winning 81-48 over host DePaul (3-12, 0-4) at Wintrust Arena in Chicago while the Quakers (9-3) continued to look good, winning their opening game 78-57 over Md.-Eastern Shore (7-9) at Fairleigh Dickinson’s Christmas Classic  in Hackensack, N.J.

Penn, however, in the title round Tuesday at 1 p.m. will not be meeting the host Knights, the reigning Northeast Conference champions, who suffered their first home loss since February 2024, a 62-51 upset to Binghamton.

In the third-place game, FDU and MDES will play at 4 p.m.

In the two other games, Rider dropped a 72-53 game at Iona in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match in New Rochelle, N.Y., while Delaware finished its non-conference schedule losing 70-63 at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

Villanova bolted to a 13-0 lead and continued wire-to-wire the rest of the way with Brynn McCurry, the MVP in the the Wildcats’ home win to capture the Big Five Classic championship over Saint Joseph’s, scoring 18 points with seven boards, shooting 6-for-9 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 on the line.

Kelsey Joens scored 14 points, Kennedy Henry collected 11 with six rebounds, and Ryanne Allen scored 10 points.

The visitors sizzled shooting 50% (30-for-60) from the field and were 14-for-18 on the line.

 Making seven shots from distance was more than enough compared to the Blue Demons blanked at 0-for-16.

Kate Novik scored 14 for DePaul and Gina Davorija tallied 10 points.

The Wildcats, who have won nine straight, are home in Finneran Pavilion on New Year’s Day hosting Creighton at noon (ESPN+).

Penn’s Katie Collins scored 18 points and Saniah Caldwell collected 17 to combine for 35 points while Collins grabbed 11 boards and blocked five shots.

The Quakers from the field were almost as hot at Villanova shooting 47 percent.

After a cold start at the outset, Penn caught fire shooting 8-for-12 from the field besides picking up seven points from the line.

It took 16 shots from the field until the opposition finally connected.

Caldwell was 3-for-4 from deep, while Tina Njike was 5-for-9 from the field collecting 12 points and Simone Sawyer scored 11 helped by a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.

Mataya Gayle off her 4-for-7 shooting picked up eight points.

In the other game, FDU (8-4) at home in the Bogota Savings Bank Center and coached by former Villanova star Stephanie Gaitley, raced to a 20-8 lead through the first quarter before Binghamton (8-4) answered with a 22-7 attack in the next period for a three-point lead at the half and then outscored the Knights in each of the next two periods.

Kendall Bennett, the sole player for the visitors in double digits on both sides of the attack had 21 points, shooting 8-for-11 from the field, and grabbed 15 rebounds.

FDU’s Kailee McDonald scored 11 points while Leah Crosby and reserve Reese Downey each scored 10 while Rebecca Osei-Owusu grabbed 13 rebounds.

Depending on how the game goes Tuesday for Penn, which will be the only local in action, it could heighten anticipation for Saturday’s 2 p.m. game at The Palestra when the Quakers open Ivy play hosting No. 25 and preseason favorite Princeton, which will have been idle since winning against visiting Temple a week ago Monday.

In the Delaware game, the Blue Hens (6-6) fell quickly behind 11-0 to Harvard (7-6) but quickly got back into contention with a 9-0 run and trailed at the half by a mere point at 33-32.

It got tied with under a minute left in third, but the Crimson snapped it going into the final ten minutes.

Delaware went up a basket with 7:07 left in regulation and at the five-minute mark Harvard erupted from a 57-57 tie on an 8-2 run, enough to hang on for the win.

Ande’a Cherisier scored 18 points for Delaware with six boards, three steals, and a blocked shot. Safi Kolliegbo had 11 points, five rebounds, and two steals while Lay Fantroy scored 10 making all four attempts from the field and dealing four assists.

Harvard’s Saniyah Glenn scored 20 points, Katie Krupa collected 16, Karlee White scored 13, and Abigail Wright was 5-for-8 from the field to gain 11 points.

Delaware, no longer a longtime member of the Coastal Athletic Association, makes its Conference USA debut Friday night at 9 p.m. at UTEP.

Meanwhile Rider (2-10, 0-3 MAAC) fell behind late in the first quarter when Iona (8-5, 1-2) snapped an 8-8 tie and went on an 8-0 run to stay ahead the rest of the way.

“We got beat by a better team, who out-played us, out-toughed us, and out-worked us,” said Rider first-year coach Jackie Hartzell.

Ailya McIver scored 12 points while Deb Okechukwu scored 11 for the Broncs, who host Merrimack New Year’s Day at 2 p.m.

On Wednesday, New Year’s Eve, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s each with one Atlantic 10 game under their belts, return to league play the rest of the way, La Salle visiting Fordham in the Bronx (N.Y.) at 1 p.m. and Saint Joseph’s hosting VCU at 2 p.m., both airing on ESPN+.

Also, at 2 p.m., in the Big Ten, Penn State hosts No. 4 UCLA on Peacock, while Patriot League action begins with defending champion Lehigh visiting Army at 1 p.m. (ESPN+) while Lafayette at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) visits Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y.

On Thursday, besides the Rider and Villanova games, Rutgers in Big Ten action hosts Wisconsin at 2 p.m. (B1G+) at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

The National Scene

The last was the best when it came to the five ranked teams on Monday’s slate with No. 6 Michigan (11-1, 2-0) taken to double overtime before the Wolverines won 92-87 at Oregon (12-3, 0-2) in a Big Ten game in Eugene.

Syla Swords scored scored 18 points with seven boards for the winners, while Olivia Olson and Ashley Sofilkanich each scored 16 points while Te’Yala Delfosse scored 14 points with nine rebounds.

Michigan had to overcome a mediocre 16-for-38 at the line while committing 26 turnovers but the Wolverines owned the boards 60-34 against the Ducks, whose Kate Fisco scored 24 with seven rebounds.

Oregon’s Mia Jacobs scored 16 points in addition while Ari Long scored 14 but coach Kelly Graves’ group had their own ball handling problems with 23 miscues.

The Ducks had trailed by 18 in the first half but forced the first overtime tying the score at 69 all on Ehis Etute’s length-of-the court layup with 1:23 left in regulation.

The home team was ahead by three in the final minute of the first overtime when Olson tied it with 5.4 seconds left.

Michigan is at Washington Thursday while Oregon hosts Northwestern.

Three other ranked Big Ten teams, two against each other, played, No. 7 Maryland (14-0, 1-1) at home in the XFINITY Center in College Park routed Wisconsin 97-59 as Oluchi Okananwa had a career-high 28 points scoring on the Badgers (9-4, 1-1), while No. 17 Southern Cal (10-3, 2-0) benefitted from Londynn Jones scoring all 13 of her points in the third quarter on the way to a 74-66 win at No. 20 Nebraska (12-1, 1-1) in Lincoln, dropping the Cornhuskers from the dwindling list of unbeaten teams.

Down two at the half, Jones scored three straight from deep following freshman Jazzy Davidson’s score to launch the 11-0 run.

Davidson and Kennedy Smith each scored 17 while Davidson also had eight boards and five blocks while Smith grabbed nine rebounds with six assists.

Nebraska was led by Britt Prince with 18 points and seven assists.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 18 Notre Dame (10-2, 2-0) at home in South Bend, Ind., coasted to a 94-50 win over Pitt (7-8, 0-2) as South Jersey’s Hannah Hidalgo scored 30 for the second straight time for the Fighting Irish while Iyanna Moore had 23 points fueled by five makes from deep and Cassandra Prosper had 18 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and four steals.

Hidalgo has four 30-point games this season and a program-best 13 her three seasons. She also has the Notre Dame best with 78 straight games in double figures and is tied with Arike Ogunbowale of the WNBA Dallas Wings with 60 games of 20+ points.

Pitt’s Mikayla Johnson scored 22.

In the other ACC game involving a ranked team No.16 North Carolina (12-3, 1-1) coasted to a 90-37 win at Boston College (4-11, 1-2) in Chestnut Hill, Mass., in a game that had runs of 16-0 and 26-0 from the Tar Heels.

Nyla Brooks led the winners with 19 points and nine boards.

In other games of note Army (9-2) under first-year coach and former Saint Joseph’s star Katie Kuester won at home in West Point, N.Y., 64-56 over MEAC favorite Howard (10-6) as Kya Smith scored 27 points with 22 rebounds.

Columbia (9-4) got 24 points from Riley Weiss in a 63-44 win at Florida Gulf Coast (4-7), the defending Atlantic Sun champion.

The Lions open Ivy play hosting Cornell Saturday and after a week’s break head to Harvard which travels to Dartmouth Saturday for the Crimson’s Ivy opener.

On Tuesday Atlantic 10 favorite Richmond returns to league action visiting Rhode Island at 6 p.m. (ESPN+), while in the American, league favorite South Florida at home in Tampa hosts Rice.